Alright, I’ve been a Saints fan my entire life. I’ve put up with a lot of games like the one that took place last night. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of improvement that the 2010 edition of the New Orleans Saints need to make, but as a long suffering Saints fan, I know that before Sean Payton and Drew Brees’s arrival (hell, before last year) last nights game against the 49ers would not have been a victory. Some god-awful event would have happened; a sudden San Francisco fog would have rolled in making any sort of game winning field goal impossible, an earthquake would have torn Candlestick Park in half sending all players and coaches adorned with a fleur-de-lis downwards into the pits of hell while everyone in red and gold danced due to their forfeited win. Except, none of that happened, and the Saints defense was just as opportunistic as it was throughout the entire 2009 season. To use a term that far too many sports writers use, “They picked up right where they left off.” (I’m not really a sports writer, so I can use it, right?) The defense, however, didn’t play anywhere near the level they did against old-man Favre. Is Favre that bad this season? Or is Alex Smith that good? Are we that bad? The answer to all of those questions is “no”. Favre will, after realizing that maybe he shouldn’t have sat out so much preseason will regain his 2009 form. Alex Smith will come back down to Earth and regain his I-really-suck-and-I-don’t-deserve-to-be-on-the-same-field-as-Drew-Brees form. And our defense will learn from its mistakes to become the formidable defense we all know it can be while still being just as opportunistic. There were times last night where I wanted the Saints to load the box and make Alex Smith beat us as opposed to allowing Frank Gore to, well, gore us. But once he got in a rhythm in the 2nd half, I realized that my idea might not be such a good one.

Sure, on a night where Drew Brees completed 28-38 for 254 yards and 2 TD’s, we barely won. And sports analysts are right when they say that San Francisco is a bad team. Only they don’t mention, often enough if you ask me, which side of the ball they’re bad on. The truth is that they’re pretty good on defense. I’m sure if you’ve been listening to the radio all day, or perhaps watching SportsCenter for the majority of time between the hours of 1AM and 4AM, you know these stats. But for those of you who do neither, let me repeat them.

Last year, the Saints ranked 2nd overall in red zone defense. Remember all those interceptions where Sharper took the ball back 80+ yards? That’s why we were #2. Guess who was number #3? San Francisco. So, if you think back to last night and remember the three times Garrett Hartley had to kick field goals, it’s not because the Saints were struggling on offense. It’s just because we were playing against a damn good red zone defense. (Granted, the two touchdowns we scored were from inside the 5 yard line, but 2 TD’s to 3 FG’s. You do the math.) San Francisco also creates about 90% of their turnovers at home. (last year the did, anyway) We won the turnover battle last night at +4. AND we didn’t turn the ball over.

Yes, we won. Yes, we played poorly on defense. Yes, the mistakes need to be fixed. But we’re 2-0, and you can’t get any better than that.

Now on to more depressing discussion. Reginald Bush III fractured his right fibula after he muffed a punt, only to have to scramble on the ground to retrieve said punt. While on the ground, a large man wearing red fell on the back of his leg. Initial reports are that he’s out 4-6 weeks, which puts him back in time for the Pittsburgh game on Halloween night. Maybe. I was pretty depressed at the idea of Reggie not being in uniform for the next couple weeks or even for the rest of the season, but then I remembered who our coach and general manager were and all depression vanished. These guys brought us a world championship after almost 50 years of waiting. I’m sure they can replace one of the most dynamic players that have donned the black and gold for a couple weeks, right? I hope you’re nodding right now, because I’m not sure I even believe the last sentence my fingers made me type. Reggie, you will be missed for the next 4-6 weeks. Pierre already said he’s cool with taking a couple more touches every game and DeShawn Wynn already said he’ll be ready to catch a couple passes and run a couple balls while you’re out sick. Chris Ivory is just now getting over his bug, and he’ll be back in uniform in no time. So, please Reggie, while you’re out, take care of yourself. Eat lots of soup and be sure to take your medicine. I’ll see you on Halloween.

I for one was extremely anxious about the season opener last night. So anxious that I could have probably vomited if I had had more food in my stomach.

Note to self: next time I plan on eating pho before a Saints game, use less Sriracha.

I really wasn’t all to worried about the Super Bowl hangover that has plagued the minds of ESPN analysts since the Saints won it all back in February. I didn’t think that we would have the cakewalk of an opener that we had last year when the Detroit Lions visited the Dome, but I really didn’t expect the high scoring affair that we were given in the NFC Championship Game either. With Sidney Rice out, Harvin with his migrane headaches, and Bernard Berrian being Bernard Berrian, I felt as though our defense would have an easier time containing the man-beast-grandpa that is Brett Favre. The Saints went far and beyond my expectations. Sure, us here in New Orleans are used to high scoring affairs which is why this game is being portrayed as an underachievement. However, when was the last time you witnessed the Saints allowing under 14 points, let alone 10? To hold Favre and Adrian Peterson to under 200 yards passing and 100 yards rushing (especially after their previous seasons of 4,000+ passing yards, 33-7 TD-INT ratio, and 1,300+ rushing yards and 18 TD’s) is nothing short of phenomenal. While the Saints did allow the 20 yard strike from Favre to Visanthe Shiancoe towards the end of the first half, the blocked PAT showed that even though the Saints probably shouldn’t have let such a play materialize, they weren’t going to take any plays off.

The defense wasn’t flashy. We only recorded one turnover. We weren’t the “opportunistic” Saints defense of the 2009 season. But, in my opinion, we were a better defense last night. We allowed 171 yards passing. From Brett Favre. We allowed 91 yard rushing. From a team with Adrian Peterson, arguably the best running back in the league. I’m content.

This is kinda weird, right? Starting a recap of the Saints season opener with all this defensive hoopla? It’s not that the offense led by Breesus didn’t captivate me the way it had over the last four seasons, it’s just obvious that the offense maybe had a bigger head than the defense last night. Sean Payton’s play calling on the opening drive was masterful. Drew Brees coming out on the first play of the game in shotgun formation told the story; we are going to pass on you and we are going to score touchdowns. And with 2:04 off the clock in the first quarter, after Devery Henderson beat Asher Allen for a 29 yard touchdown, I thought it would be another NFC Championship Game. You’d think that, with the success of our first drive, that we would come out and do the exact same thing, right? Wrong.

Ladies and gentlemen, our second drive:

1. New Orleans Saints at 10:53
2. 1-10-NO 27(10:53) (Shotgun) 9-D.Brees pass short left to 23-P.Thomas to NO 25 for -2 yards (51-B.Leber). Pass -5, YAC 0
3. 2-12-NO 25(10:14) 9-D.Brees pass short left to 16-L.Moore to NO 27 for 2 yards (21-A.Allen, 52-C.Greenway). Pass -3, YAC 5
4. 3-10-NO 27(9:32) (Shotgun) 9-D.Brees pass incomplete deep right to 19-D.Henderson.
5. 4-10-NO 27(9:26) 6-T.Morstead punts 43 yards to MIN 30, Center-57-J.Kyle, out of bounds. No foul was given for kick-catching interference on the play.

It’s just not what you’d expect after opening the game with a 28 yard pass to Marques Colston.

But Payton did this to us last year as well. We’d open with an amazing drive, running left, throwing right. It was art. Then we’d come out on our next two possessions and lay eggs all over the field. If the dial was at 10 when we opened the game, Payton cranked it down to 3.

I really can’t justify going on about the offense anymore. They scored over 500 points last year. I’m going to chalk this up as rust and hope that we come out a little more aggressive against the 49ers.

But you can’t ask much more from a football team than to start the year off with a win.

And they did that.

And I’m happy.

And I didn’t vomit.

I know that the Saints just won the Super Bowl last week. I never want to get rid of this feeling. It's crazy though, right? I mean, we as Saints fans will probably never get tired of talking about where we were during Garrett Hartley's kick sending us to the Super Bowl or where we watched the big game versus New Orleans' "favorite son" Peyton Manning. I'm not sure how many people I could get to back me up on this, but I had said before the Super Bowl even started that our defense was better than the Indy's defense by leaps and bounds. I really do believe that, when healthy, we have one of the best secondaries in the league. With Jabari Greer putting up Darrelle Revis type numbers all season and Tracy "Da GameChanger" Porter making plays when it counts, not to mention the Sharper/Harper connection, we shouldn't be known as a team that allows the long ball for too much longer.
There is, however, much that we can improve to help our defense in the offseason. It's not that I don't think that our linebacking core is legit. I think that they're great. But the Saints haven't had a dominant, hard hitting LB since the Dome Patrol days. That's not to say that Vilma, Shanle, and Fujita aren't doing their job. They are doing what they're asked to do. We just have trouble keeping up with physical, speedy tight ends. Tony Gonzales, Brent Celek, Dallas Clark. The Saints had a hard time keeping up with these guys. I really think that we need to draft a quick, hard hitting outside linebacker. Sergio Kindle from Texas stands out the most in my mind. Whether or not he's available with the 32nd pick (man that sounds good) remains to be seen.
As far as our defensive line goes, I think we have everyone necessary to have a competitive front four. Hargrove played lights out this year. He did way more than I would have ever thought. Ayodele played very well along Ellis when he was healthy. Clancy was put on IR earlier in the season, but I still think he's a reliable backup. I really like DeMario Pressley and think that he can become a great run stuffer if he were given the reps. McCray really came on after Charles Grant went down with his injury. I can see him starting next year if we release Grant or if he gets used in a backup role. Grant really underperformed this year...a year where I thought he would blow his critics out of the water. He has had nagging injuries for the last two years. I was under the impression that he was finally healthy and his play would show it. I wouldn't mind using a draft pick to address our defensive line, but I wouldn't want to use a first or second rounder on it. I think we have more pressing needs at the linebacking position.
Lastly, as much as Harper has impressed me with his run defense and blitzing abilities, I'd really like to see the Saints bring in someone to compete with him. It's not that I don't think he does a great job, but he has a hard time falling back into coverage. I think that was one of our biggest problems before Sharper got here, we didn't have safeties that could make that transition easily. With that being said, I DO NOT want to see the Saints move Malcom Jenkins to safety. He showed so much promise playing in nickel and dime situations. I think we could possibly afford to address the strong safety position in the draft.
Don't think that I forgot about Arnoux and Vaughn. If these guys came around and played lights out like I've heard they can, then that'll just add to the depth at the safety and linebacking positions.
The Saints have a good problem on their hands. They just won the Super Bowl and they have players that want to continue to play here. They have players that want to end their careers as a Saint. It's a great time to be a New Orleans Saints fan. Live it up, guys.

Tonight, at the Saints' parade, the "secondary" float stopped right in front of me for a good five minutes. I was able to see Jabari, Tracy, Roman, Darren, Leigh...the entire bunch. This got me to thinking about how good our secondary is when it's healthy. Could we have possibly gone from one of the worst secondaries in the league to perhaps the best? I know that we all know what our defense is capable of when healthy. We saw a defense in the top 10 for the first five or six games of the season. Although we had a drop off statistically towards the end of the season, we still had drastic changes in our defensive secondary from last year. A year ago, we had 12 INT's from our secondary, 5 of which came from *gulp* Jason David. This year, we had 20, 5 of which lead to TD's. I really think if we got some dominant pressure from our defensive line, we would be able to play the finesse style football on the offensive side while playing the punch-you-in-the-mouth style defense that we see from teams like Pittsburgh, the NY Jets, etc.

Thoughts?

In all the beautiful and insane hooplah that was going on during and after the game, I wasn't able to hear any of Jim Henderson's calls. The one's I'm most interested in hearing are the onside kick and Tracy's INT. Can anyone help a brutha out? I know Jim has been waiting for this moment for a very long time. His call from the NFC Championship Game was amazing...I can only imagine this being the best thing ever.

I know all of us are somewhat unsure who will fill Grant's spot on the defensive line this Saturday, but I was wondering what some of you thought might be a possible lineup. Personally, I think DeMario Pressley and Sedrick Ellis at DT and Will Smith and Anthony Hargrove at DE, with a generous amount of Bobby McCray and Jeff Charleston mixed in. I thought Pressley played outstanding last week against the Panthers and think that he and Ellis make a formidable DT tandem. 

Also, do you think with both Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter back and healthy that Darren Sharper will be able to roam the defensive backfield as he was earlier in the season? Will Roman Harper be able to move up into the box and blitz as he was? These types of formations and plays, in my opinion, were what made our defense what it was during the first 6 games of the season. 

After digesting the outcome of the game for a while, I've realized a couple things which might have been obvious for some of you previous to me saying it.

1) We've known that we were going to the playoffs for quite some time. The Cowboys needed this game to make the playoffs and even after this win, they aren't in. They need to win out. 

2) The depth at the corner position that I thought we had isn't there. Jenkins is obviously still a rookie. McKenzie has, in fact, lost a step. 

3) Drew's worst game this season. The lack of time to make anything happen didn't help, but he made some horrible decisions when he had the time. This will probably end up being his worst game of the 2009 season. He's that focused. 

4) I'm happy we don't have the "undefeated" tag on us anymore. It adds stress that we don't need. 

5) We as Saints fans have been accustomed so accustomed to losing that this season has been miraculous. We have never gone this long into a season with no losses. We got spoiled this year. We're still 13-1. No one else in the NFC can say that. We still have a first round bye and, with our remaining schedule, we still look golden for home field advantage. 

I've been having a friendly argument with a friend of mine about which of the current Saints receivers is the "best". My friend is an LSU homer and refuses to believe that anyone other than Devery Henderson is the best receiver. His reasons range from Devery playing in the SEC and winning a "national championship" in 2003 to him being the fastest player on the team. (Robert Meachem actually had a faster 40 time.) My vote is and always will be Marques Colston. Even though he is not the fastest on the team, I still feel as though his height and his hands are more important than speed, especially with the way Colston plays...playing in the slot, taking hits, etc.

So help us out! How do you rank the Saints WR's?

After tonight's game, I was curious to see the stats that our makeshift secondary put up against one of the best QB's to ever play the game. With Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter out and Randall Gay getting injured early in the game, our starting corners had a combined three weeks with our beloved Saints. Granted, Mike McKenzie has been with this team before, but never under a Gregg Williams coached defense. Jabari not starting came as somewhat of a surprise to me as I thought he had made strides in practice and was on pace to start. I was extremely worried about how our secondary would match up with the Patriots before the game started. Turns out the following happened:

Malcom Jenkins - lead the team with 8 tackles

Mike McKenzine - 3 beastly tackles, a critical pass deflection from Moss at the goal line, and an INT

Chris McAlister - one tackle, helped shut down Moss all night

Does this mean that when Jabari and Tracy come back, our secondary will be even more legit? Malcom Jenkins sure does have a lot of talented teachers to learn from.

Thoughts? Comments? Think I'm stupid?

I have been looking for the WWL call of the Eagles - Saints game where Darren Sharper returns his INT for a TD. Jim Henderson makes the best call I've heard since "Hakim drops the ball" when he exclaims "HE GONE HE GONE HE GONE". Please help me find this comedy gold.

I have to eat up another twenty words or so, so pay no attention to this. This seventy five word thing is pretty silly.

I've made a post about what we could possibly do with any money saved from trading Reggie. Since that post, I've felt bad and wanted to come up with some positives about his play during this short season.

1) Blocking. Dude simply puts his body in the way. I've seen numerous times where he just straight up jumps on the ground to block a pass rusher.

2) Running. Sure he can be a great decoy, but who needs that? Every player in our offense can be a decoy at any moment. We can probably attest this to better O-line play, but our O-line was decent last year for Pierre so it's excuse, really. He also seems to be churning his feet more when he hits the pile as opposed to just falling. His punt returns are a different story, but hopefully we see Rod back there sooner rather than later.

Feel free to add your own thoughts, please.

I have seen in various articles that the Saints want to increase Malcom's reps in the coming weeks based on his great special teams play. I'm obviously no NFL coach, however, it would seem to me that special teams play and lining up as a starting corner or even in a nickel or dime package requires more skill than that of a special teamer. I know he was the number one pick and I know he has the skill set, but does special teams play really carry over into secondary play that easily? Am I missing something? Does this question even make sense?

wwltvsports Jenkins solidifies himself as No. 1 nickelback with 70-yard INT return, by the way. Nice play to grab ball high in air and take it to EZ.

jeffduncantp Think we can make it official: Jenkins is this team's starting nickel. Randall Gay working with the second team, Jenkins the 1s.

What are your thoughts on the current defensive backs depth chart? My thoughts would be Jabari Greer, Tracy Porter, Malcolm Jenkins, Randall Gay, Leigh Torrence, in that order...